Does your child need a bulletproof backpack?
After the Columbine shootings, two Massachusetts fathers say they started working on a bulletproof backpack. Their goal was to design a lightweight bag that would protect children from gunshots and stab wounds.

Now, after years of research, their invention is on the market. "If the kid has a backpack next to them, or under the desk, they can pick it up, the straps act as a handle and it becomes a shield," creator Joe Curran tells WCVB-TV.

The "My Child's Pack" sells for $175 and features a ballistic plate sewn into the back of the bag. The company's website explains: A ballistic panel is similar to the traditional bullet resistant vest worn by military and police weighing a minimum of ten pounds. Weighing just 20oz (the weight of a small water bottle), our ballistic panel is light enough for a young child to carry as part of their pack.

What do schools think? “It seems to me that it would not serve our district-wide dress code which says that students cannot wear anything which is threatening or offensive,” a Boston Public Schools spokesman tells the Boston Herald.

The company says the bags have been certified as Level II body armor. Under federal standards, that means the ballistic material can protect against a range of threats, including some 9 mm handguns.

Here's a video on YouTube. http://youtube.com/watch?v=t1iJRDffNMc
[Edited 8/15/07 15:41pm]

seems overly paranoid to me.

Why would the Boston School system deem it "threatening or offensive"?

Both of my girls go to private school. It is practically a fortress. The gates get locked, and you need either a pass code or ring the bell and security will come out to greet you. The classes max out at 12 per class. Everyone knows everyone (92 kids in the whole school) grades pre-school through 8th grade. It costs me an arm and a leg and still another limb. But in this time in life, I do not see any other way.